A "What If" Question To Ponder

For all I can list the Penguins’ Achilles’ Heels (lack of defensive depth, inexperience, and the negatives of perhaps too much youth and not being sure of exactly what you have), I have been pondering a ridiculous—and for the moment, irrelevant—question in mind for awhile.

Last summer, Chris Pronger was available. While it made logical sense for the Pens not to pursue Pronger at the time—as obtaining him likely would have cost them a player who is an important piece of their current or future team—my question pertains to Pronger.

If the Penguins had Chris Pronger on their blueline, in addition to the rest of their team, would they not have to be considered the prohibitive favorites to win the Stanley Cup?

Given the team’s four line depth and superstar talent, and given Pronger’s ability to make Dwayne Roloson look like Patrick Roy last spring, what if the Penguins had a defenseman like Pronger? Wouldn’t the Pittsburgh team be the oddsmakers’ favorites to capture the Cup?

Of course, the question is moot point. Pronger, when healthy, has helped to make Anaheim one of the favorites to come out of the Western Conference. And, at the present moment, the Penguins lack a shut-down defenseman like Pronger.

Yet the question lingers. At some point, perhaps not this season but in future seasons, perhaps the Pens will have to trade offense (Paul Coffey as part of that deal in 1992, remember?) for defense. That time, of course, hadn’t arrived this spring—it may still remain a year or two years away.

And yet, I’d state it here and now: If the Pens had Pronger (obviously, they don’t) or a defenseman like him, it would take quite a bit of a lot of something for some other team to defeat Pittsburgh in a seven games series.

But for the moment, as the Pens play their games in March in the hopes of securing their first postseason birth in years, you go to battle with the team and defense you have. Here’s hoping that defense pleasantly surprises those naysayers and critics, such as myself, and gives Pens fans reason to cheer as spring blooms and blossoms.